52 / 56
50
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
FEBRUARY
2015
>
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
“The
government’s
commit-
ment to a massive infrastructure
development rollout over the
coming years presents a singular
opportunity for the South African construc-
tion industry. While the use of pigmented
concrete in this regard is still in its infancy,
we are finding that contractors, architects
and consultants are showing an increasing
interest as well as coming up with more and
more novel applications,” Engelbrecht says.
Chryso Southern Africa is the sole
distributor of Lanxess inorganic iron oxide
Bayferrox® pigments for the construction
industry in Southern Africa. This German
company is a global manufacturer and
distributor of inorganic pigments. These are
all UV-stable and comply with EN 878 (the
use of pigments for colouring building mate-
rials) and ASTM C 979 (pigments for inte-
grally coloured concrete). Chryso Southern
Africa supplies all the major readymix manu-
facturers such as AfriSam and Lafarge.
Success stories
A recent success story for Chryso Southern
Africa was the application of Bayferrox®
pigments for concrete roads at the R220-mil-
lion Sunward Lifestyle Centre shopping
complex in Sunward Park, Boksburg as an
alternative to traditional asphalt pavement.
Engelbrecht says that Bayferrox® 330 black
pigment was specified so that tyre marks
and oil spills would not be too conspicuous
on the concrete road surfaces.
The developers were on the lookout
for the exceptional durability and extended
life that concrete roads can provide for a
shopping complex with a catchment area
of 340 000 people, which meant higher
than normal traffic. The 17 000 m
2
shopping
complex has a road network leading to 1 000
parking bays constructed from interlocking
concrete blocks without pigmentation.
Engelbrecht explains that the Sunward
project specified a mix of 16,6 kg of
Bayferrox® pigmentation per cubic metre of
concrete. In total, the 3 000 m
3
of concrete
required a staggering 47 t of pigment to
achieve the requisite black shading of the
road network, built by main contractor
Mikon Construction of Boksburg. The mix
was designed by AfriSam’s Technical Depart-
ment, with Matthews Sethlodi, AfriSam
team production manager, revealing that
80 m
3
to 100 m
3
of readymix was delivered
to the project site over eight months. This
translated into 500 concrete mixer loads.
Engelbrecht says that a recent similar
application was the bunded concrete areas
surrounding the fuel storage tanks on Trans-
net’s new Multi Product Pipeline (NMPP)
project between Durban and Heidelberg in
Gauteng. Here large quantities of Bayferrox®
330 black pigmentationwere used to conceal
spillage staining the bunded concrete areas.
Another striking example was the use
of red coloured concrete for the demar-
cation of bus lanes for Cape Town’s Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) project, which speci-
fied Lafarge’s Artevia™ decorative concrete,
based on pigments supplied by Chryso
Southern Africa. The Steyn City urban
precinct development in Fourways, Johan-
nesburg also features exposed coloured
concrete and surface retarders using prod-
ucts from Chryso Southern Africa.
Another landmark application was
Soccer City, not only one of the most recog-
nisable features on the Johannesburg
skyline, but the largest soccer stadium built
in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA Soccer
World Cup. Architectural firms Populous
and Boogertman Urban Edge + Partners
created a new hi-tech façade made of glass
fibre reinforced concrete coloured with
Bayferrox® pigments. This striking design
set a new benchmark for innovative archi-
tecture in South Africa.
Challenges
The challenge for the concrete
industry is that urban planners,
architects and contractors now have a wider
range of building materials to choose from.
“The use of pigmented or coloured concrete
has the definite advantage of positioning
concrete as an aesthetically pleasing and
modern building material. In addition, our
wide reference base showcases the versa-
tility of pigmented or coloured concrete in
an increasingly diverse range of applica-
tions,” Engelbrecht comments.
Sustainability
From a sustainability point of view, Engel-
brecht points out that Bayferrox® pigments
are produced in Germany using modern
processes that reduce the environmental
impact. “These pigments are neither
toxic nor an irritant to the skin or mucous
membranes,” he adds. Another critical factor
is consistency of the pigments produced,
which Lanxess prides itself on. “This means
that there are no colour variances, pointing
to the high quality of the end product.
This is often a major problem with cheaper
alternative products such as those sourced
from China.”
The future
Looking to the future, he says that concrete
admixtures, which are becoming increas-
ingly popular as concrete technology itself
advances, “provide a natural intervention
for pigments. Depending on the specific
customer requirements, we can blend any
colours accordingly.” For example, Chryso
Southern African mixes colours used exclu-
Increased use of
PIGMENTED CONCRETE
Pigmented or coloured
concrete is being used
increasingly in a broad range
of construction applications
in South Africa, from pipelines
to roads and even stadia,
Hannes Engelbrecht, general
manager: marketing, Chryso
Southern Africa, says.
>
Hannes Engelbrecht,
general manager:
Marketing, Chryso
Southern Africa,
says urban planners,
architects and
contractors now have
a much wider range of
building materials to
choose from.
Chryso Southern Africa is the sole distributor
of Lanxess inorganic iron oxide Bayferrox®
pigments, which comply with EN 878 (the use of
pigments for colouring building materials).